Books, magazines and photography

Books

Books on Love

The oldest books on love are the Chinese 'Handbooks of Sex', written 5,000 years ago by the legendary Yellow Emperor, Huang-Ti (2697-2598 BC).

The most famous erotic novel on love is probably 'Fanny Hill or Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure', written by Henry Cleland and first published in London in 1749. It is the story of a young woman's visit to a big city, where she finds herself in a brothel (an easy mistake to make), and she falls in love with one of the clients.

The oldest Indian book on love is the famous 'Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana', writen about 1500 years ago and based on many earlier works. It was first published in English as the 'Kama Sutra' in 1883.

The best-selling book on love was 'Ideal Marriage' by Theodore Hendrik van de Velde (1873-1937). Originally published in Dutch and German, it went through 42 printing in Germany between 1926 and 1932. The English edition, first published in 1930 by William Heinemann, has gone through 43 printings and 700,000 copies.

The best-selling modern book on Love is 'The Joy of Sex', substitled 'A Gourmet Guide to Love Making', by Alex Comfort. The latest edition, 'The New Joy of Sex,' includes sections as diverse as fidelity, exhibitionism, feathers, standing positions, leather, open air, virginity, fetishes, and, health and doctors.

The largest collection of books on love is probably found at the library of The Kingsey Institute: The Institute of Sex Research, topping some 20,000 books. Rumours have it that the Vatican Library has some 25000 volumes on love and sex.

The most entertaining collection of erotic trivia must be The Illustrated Book of Sexual Records by G.L. Simons (published in 1974 and 1982), and one of the few guides to 'The longest, shortest, fastest, oldest, and craziest book on sexual superlatives you'll ever find!'.

The most bizarre book published could be the The Encyclopedia of Unusual Sex Practices by Brenda Love, filled with more astonishing facts and fancies than most people could ever have imagined, and a unique guide to human sexual expression, ranging from the mildly kinky to the truly bizarre.

Magazines

The first erotic UK magazine was The Covent Garden Magazine, first published in 1773, described as an 'Amorous Repository, Calculated Solely for the Entertainment of the Polite World'.

The most famous erotic magazines for women are probably Viva and Playgirl.

The 19th Century's most famous erotic magazine was Pearl, subtitled Journal of Facetiae and Voluptuous Reading. It was first published between July 1879 and December 1886, and re-printed in 1970. Comprising 3 volume, it included 36 erotic lithographs and a number of ballads, poems, gossip-columns and anecdotes.

The world's first 'girlie' magazine was Esquire, first appearing in the 1930s, and intended as a respectable men's fashion magazine. The first issue included George Petty's famous pin-up girl, and later those of the illustrator Varga.

The first magazine to show to show pubic hair -just- was the April 1970 issue of Penthouse magazine. Up until then, all such display was artfully removed with an airbrush (surely hairbush? - Ed.)